Spring practice just ended, but the 2025 Alabama football season opener will be here before long. The Tide is heading to Tallahassee on Aug. 30, where it will face Florida State to begin Kalen DeBoer’s second season as head coach.

The Seminoles, who had a legitimate argument to have made the 2023 College Football Playoff over Nick Saban’s final Alabama team, suffered through a ghastly 2024. FSU won just two games, only one of them against a Power 4 team, and looked out of sorts in nearly every game.

As the Crimson Tide prepares for preseason camp, here’s how things are shaping up for its first opponent.

Offense

After the 2024 disaster, head coach Mike Norvell made staff changes. The biggest: bringing in former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator.

Malzahn was the head coach at Central Florida when the Seminoles came calling, and can focus more on coaching ball in his new gig. He’s also one of the extremely few coaches who have any history of consistently challenging Alabama during Nick Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa.

FSU will be led by a new face at quarterback, with Thomas Castellanos transferring in from Boston College. Castellanos brings plenty of athleticism to the table for the Seminoles.

Florida State does boast a new-look receiver core, with Tennessee transfer Squirrel White leading the way. At running back, a familiar name to Alabama fans is the most experienced player, with Roydell Williams returning for a second year in Tallahassee.

Defense

Norvell made another high-profile change to his staff on defense. Florida State poached Tony White to be its defensive coordinator, after he previously held the same job at Nebraska.

After last year’s failures, White will be tasked with turning the ship around. His Nebraska defense were top 20 in the nation, so his addition to the staff could be a major gain for the Seminoles.

Player-wise, Darrell Jackson is probably the highlight for Florida State’s defense. The defensive tackle had originally opted to enter the 2025 NFL Draft, but later decided to return to school.

Jackson made 31 tackles last season, including 3.5 sacks. He’ll provide a formidable challenge for Alabama’s interior offensive line.

The coach

Norvell expertly used the transfer portal to build Florida State into the 2023 team that won the ACC championship and was undefeated before it was left out of the playoff and fell apart before facing Georgia in its bowl game. Norvell reportedly was a major player for Alabama’s open head coach job when Saban retired, before DeBoer ultimately got the gig.

After that, it all fell apart. Norvell signed a huge extension at Florida State that makes him extremely difficult to fire, but his reliance on the portal backfired from the first game of the 2024 season, when the Seminoles lost to Georgia Tech in Ireland.

Norvell is still protected by a huge buyout. However, taking a beatdown from Alabama in the first game of the season would not be a momentum-builder for a coach that needs to prove he can build a more sustainable brand of success at FSU.